Transparent Conductive Tin Doped Indium Oxide Thin Films with Silver Additive

摘要

Thin films of intermixed layers of In_2O_3:Sn (denoted ITO) and silver were made by reactive dc magnetron sputtering. The silver to indium atomic ratio was 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.09. Films with x = 0.01 showed increased luminous transmittance T_(lum) after annealing at 100 or 200℃, whereas x > 0.01 yielded lowered T_(lum). The optical properties could be reconciled with the Maxwell-Garnett effective medium theory assuming that a well-defined portion of the silver was occluded as spheroidal particles. Films with x ≤ 0.06 had enhanced electrical conductivity after annealing at 200 or 300℃. Transmission electron microscopy displayed columnar features whose character depended on x.